


Conflict at Christmas

by WolfAndHound_Archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 21:13:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5943268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfAndHound_Archivist/pseuds/WolfAndHound_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Answer to Christmas Challenge for Abbey Road</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conflict at Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Lassenia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Wolf and Hound](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Wolf_and_Hound), which was created to make stories posted to the Sirius_Black_and_Remus_Lupin Yahoo! mailing list easier to find. However, even though I still love the fandom, I am no longer active in it and do not have the time to maintain it. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in December 2015. I posted an announcement with Open Doors, but we may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on the [Wolf and Hound collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/wolfandhound/profile).

The night was crisp and still. Snow had fallen earlier, blanketing the small village with soft powder. 

On the roof of the house they shared, Remus and Sirius had cleared a patch of snow. Now they sat curled against each other, staring up at the sky. 

A few moments later Harry peeked through the attic window. "Aren't you two freezing?"

"Nah," Sirius said. "Come and join us, there's room on the blanket."

Harry climbed out of the window, stretched his lanky form out over the roof, and stared upwards. "So, which one's Sirius? That one?" He pointed. 

"No, that's Pollux," Remus said. 

"Sirius is farther south. See, down there? The brightest one, that one's mine," Sirius explained. 

"Yours, eh?" Harry raised an eyebrow. 

Sirius grinned, and was about to speak before Remus interrupted him.

"Actually, it's mine." His toothy grin made Sirius's face light up.

Harry smiled at them and folded his arms behind his head. 

The following morning brought a fresh snowstorm. Remus was glad for the warmth of the house, and the warmth of Sirius. He drowsed for a few moments in their bed before dragging himself out of it-- if he didn't get out of bed before Sirius woke up he wouldn't get out of bed at all that day. And while he couldn't deny that that sounded like a wonderful way to spend said day, he had a lot of Christmas shopping to finish. So he padded down the stairs to the kitchen. 

He was surprised to see a bleary-eyed Harry boiling water for tea. Though Harry had never been one to lie in, Remus was usually up long before him. 

"Morning, Harry," he said. "You're up early."

"G'morning." He took off his glasses and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "I couldn't fall back to sleep." He retrieved two teacups from the cupboard and set the tea to steep. 

"Thanks," said Remus, taking his tea. "Something on your mind?"

"No," Harry lied. 

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Are you lying?"

"Yes." He looked guilty.

"Should I leave you alone?"

"No, it's all right," he said sheepishly. "It's your kitchen."

"You live here too. If you don't want to talk about it, I understand." Remus rummaged through the icebox for the cream, and added it to his tea. "So, have you finished your Christmas shopping?"

"No. Ron and I are going to Diagon Alley a bit later, though. I expect I'll be back late." 

"I see. That's where I'm headed, and I might go in to London. If I feel adventurous."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, though Harry was worrying his lip. Suddenly he spoke. 

"I have something to tell you."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I don't know if you're going to like it."

"There's very little you could say that would surprise me, or that I would have a right to dislike."

Harry looked puzzled for a moment. "Fine. I-- I'm seeing someone."

"Oh? That's good, isn't it?"

"A man."

"And this is supposed to bother me? Haven't you noticed that Sirius and I--"

"Severus Snape."

He stared at Harry for a moment, his mouth slightly open. "Well, I have to admit, that surprised me. Kudos to you."

"Yeah."

"Um. You do realize, of course, that Snape is... quite a few years older than you are?"

"I do know that, yes."

Remus was unsure how he could possibly finish this conversation with the delicacy it needed. 

"You can disown me now," Harry said.

"We're not going to disown you; I just don't share your taste. Does he treat you like a human being?"

"Yes."

"Are you happy?"

He thought for a moment. "Yes."

"Okay." Remus smiled. "You're an adult. You've finished school, you are intelligent enough to make your own decisions. As long as you're happy I can't find anything wrong with it."

Harry looked at him strangely. "Are you lying?"

"Not really. Fine. Let me amend that. I can't find anything wrong with it, other than petty personal reasons that have nothing to do with you."

"Okay," Harry said, satisfied. "Don't tell Sirius?"

"I won't tell Sirius. You will, though," Remus said, grinning behind his teacup. 

Harry cringed. 

"Honestly, he'd rather hear it from you than from anyone else. He loves you, Harry. Sometimes you need to learn to take advantage of that."

Several hours later, cold and wet, Remus returned to the house, levitating too many packages in front of him. He deposited them beneath the Christmas tree. 

The space under the tree was rather bare. Remus had a sneaking suspicion that Sirius hadn't done any shopping. He also supposed that Sirius hadn't even gotten out of bed yet. He climbed the stairs to their bedroom. 

And there he lay, snoring, sprawled beneath the duvet. Remus shook his head and sighed. 

"Sodding hedonist," he grumbled, pulling his wet robes over his head. He was tempted to drop them on Sirius's head, but that would not be in the Christmas spirit, so he tossed them on the floor and walked in to the bathroom for a hot shower. 

Sirius had not, in fact, been in bed all day. He had a large pile of gifts wrapped and hidden in the corner of their bedroom by several clever charms. He was in the process of bewitching some of them to sing lewd Christmas carols when shook. When he felt Remus breach the wards on the house, he scrambled back in to bed, in very much the same position he'd been earlier that morning. And there he waited, until he heard Remus get in the shower. 

The hot water pounded across his back, driving away the bitter cold he'd felt all morning. He stood beneath the spray for a few minutes until the shower curtain was pulled back just enough. Bony arms wrapped around his waist and Sirius's lips were on his ear. 

"Hello," Sirius whispered. His hands roamed across Remus's chest. He pressed his whole body against Remus's back. 

"I thought you were asleep," Remus mumbled. 

"Wasn't." A nibble to his ear. 

"A ploy to keep my guard down?"

"Mhmm." A warm kiss to his neck. Sirius's hands were stroking lower and lower, and Remus turned his head to kiss Sirius's mouth. 

Soon they were moaning against each other, and the cold was banished.

When they emerged a while later, hair no longer dripping, there was a definite twinkle in the gray of Remus's eyes, and no mistaking the grin on Sirius's face. They entered the kitchen just in time to hear Harry Floo in from Diagon Alley. 

"I'm back," he called from the living room.

"Hi," Sirius answered. "Buy me anything good?"

Harry walked in to the kitchen. "Coal."

Remus snorted, and Sirius looked appalled. 

"Coal?" He spluttered. "You wound me, Harry, you really do. I was expecting much better of you."

"Yes, like a pair of old socks, or a kleenex, even," Remus teased. He sat down at the table, and the others followed. 

"We need more decorations," Sirius said. They were sitting in the living room, beside the lavishly bedecked tree. Remus looked up from the chess game that Harry was currently slaughtering him in and glanced sideways at Sirius. Then he looked around the room, at the holly leaves wreathed around the fireplace, the fairy lights lining the window frames, the red and green candles floating above their heads.

"All right, he said, slowly. "What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know. More. It's Christmas Eve!" He stood up, his eyes focused on something far away. "It's our first real Christmas since... We need to go all out."

He drew his wand and soon a sprig of mistletoe hung dangerously over Remus's head. 

"I see--" Remus had barely finished the words before Sirius was kissing him, his lips were hot and soft as he ran his tongue over them, and he moaned in the back of his throat and then he was gone. 

Sirius sat beside him on the sofa, grinning. 

Harry was blushing. "Er. It's your move, Remus."

Remus gave Harry a pointed look before adjusting his glasses and studying the chessboard once more. 

"It's stopped snowing," Sirius blurted out a few moments later. "Stop playing that ridiculous game and come caroling with me." 

"You only think it's ridiculous because I beat you three times in a row last night," Harry said. 

"It isn't too late for me to return your gifts, you know, Potter," Sirius grumbled. "Let's go!" 

Remus marveled at how closely Sirius resembled a child. It was cold outside, and the snow had barely ceased to fall, and he was bloody insane to want to go out in it. But it was the first real Christmas they'd been able to have, so how could he deny him? "All right, all right. But give me some Firewhiskey before we head out, I'll need to keep warm. And I can't imagine doing such a thing sober. Are you sure you haven't had anything to drink?"

Sirius was now grinning so widely Remus was afraid it would split his face apart. "You're the best, Moony." He turned to clap Harry on the shoulder. "Coming with us?"

"Wouldn't miss it." 

"Excellent." With his wand he Summoned a bottle of Ogden's and poured each of them a shot. "To holiday cheer, and family and peace and all that rot." 

Then they tromped out of the house, Sirius leading a very enthusiastic chorus of "Deck the Halls."

Red-faced and sodden, they returned to the house, their merry steps echoing across the hardwood floors. Sirius conjured mugs of cocoa in the living room while Remus lit a fire in the grate. Harry collapsed, laughing, on to the sofa. 

"That was excellent," he said. "That woman's face, when you added those verses to We Three Kings..." 

"And Let It Snow!"

"Don't forget God Rest Ye, Merrye Hippogriffs. That's my personal favorite, I thought it was an exceptional work of genius." Sirius sipped casually at his coca, though his eyes shone with mischief. He slipped an arm around Remus's shoulders. 

"Sirius?" Harry asked a few moments later.

"Hmm?" 

"There's something I need to tell you, and I know you're not going to like it, but I want to impress on the fact that I'm telling you about it rather than you hearing it from a third party."

Remus could feel the arm around his shoulders tense slightly. He moved his hand to rest on Sirius's thigh. 

"Okay," he said.

"Well... I'm sort of involved... rather--"

"Is it illegal substances? Because that's not really as bad as--"

"Er, no, it's--"

"Because you can tell me, I want you to know that, I love you, Harry, and even if you make some bad decisions--"

"Sirius, will you shut up and let him talk?" Remus said sharply.

"Oh. Right."

Harry looked down at his hands, which were clasped firmly in his lap. "I'm seeing someone, and we're very serious."

"Well, that's great, when do we get to meet her?"

"Well, it's a him, and you already know him."

"I never thought Ron would go for blokes!"

"Yuck! No! It's NOT Ron. Ron is my best friend."

"Nothing wrong with falling in love with your best friend."

"It's Severus."

For the first time in his life, Sirius Black was utterly speechless. "Severus? Snape?!" He choked. "Severus Snape?!"

"Yes," Harry said, a spark of defiance in his voice. 

Sirius just stared at him. Though he was healthier, cleaner, he looked just as disturbing to Harry as he had in the Shrieking Shack more than five years before. 

"If he's given you some kind of potion to take advantage, I'll kill him. With my bare hands--"

"He hasn't."

"Harry! This is SNAPE. The man's a bastard. He tortured you for seven years."

"He's less unreasonable when you're not his student."

"He's old enough to be your--" He stopped himself. "Never mind," he said curtly, and he sprang from the sofa and left the room. 

Remus rose immediately. "I'd better go calm him down." He stopped abruptly before he crossed the room's threshold, turning to Harry. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he sighed. 

"The worst is over." 

Upstairs, Sirius slammed a door.

Remus opened the door to their bedroom with nearly as much force as Sirius had taken to close it. Sirius whirled around to face him, his face livid. 

"Did you KNOW about this?"

"He told me this morning." 

"What did you tell him?" Sirius started to pace. 

"I told him what you should have told him. I told him that as long as he is happy, that's all I care about. Stop being such a ridiculous bastard, Sirius, he's your godson, and he can't help who he falls in love with."

Sirius was directly in front of Remus now, his face moving closer by the second. "I hate how you're so fucking calm about this. This is Snivellus we're talking about, for fuck's sake, how can you just let this go?"

Without warning, Remus grabbed him by the shirt collar and shoved him against the wall. "You don't need to blame me for this."

Sirius was pinned, Remus's breath was hot against his face and his body was so close. 

"This is ridiculous," he tried halfheartedly to push Remus away, but Remus only tightened his grip. 

"You're absolutely right." 

"He's filthy, horrible, and he's not good enough for Harry, that's for damn sure."

Remus stared hard at Sirius. "You need to get over this. Now. You sound like your goddamned father, are you listening to yourself? The kid is happy, for the first time in his fucking life he's got a good home, with people who love him, and he said that he's HAPPY with Snape. So why can't you just let that be?"

Sirius's jaw had dropped. "I-- I do not" he spluttered. 

"Yes, you do. That's exactly what your father said when he found out about us." Abruptly he let go of Sirius and stepped back. 

"But Snape really is a horrible--"

"I don't care. That's not the point, Sirius. The point is, Harry has found someone with whom he is happy. It's not up to us to decide who that is. He needs our support."

"You can't tell me that you're happy with this."

"And I'm not going to. There's no denying my dislike of Snape. But that has nothing to do with Harry, and being so upset about it is simply selfish."

Sirius ran a hand roughly through his hair. 

"He's smart enough to make his own decisions. He knew going in to this what Snape is like. Let him live his own life." Remus's voice softened. "You know, he was ready for us to disown him this morning, before he said anything."

Sirius looked up sharply. "What? I would never... Jesus." The look on his face extinguished any anger that Remus had left. 

"You need to tell him that."

"Yeah, yeah I do." He turned toward the door. 

"And while you're at it, apologize for being such a wanker."

"Harry?" Sirius knocked at the door to his room. 

"C'min," Harry said. 

"I would never disown you. Ever. Don't ever think that I might, no matter what happens, what kinds of choices you may make, I'll never stop caring about you, and I'll never push you away."

Harry looked at him for a long time. 

"And I want you to know that I'm sorry. I'm not disappointed, I just... let myself get out of control. You know how I feel about Snape. But I don't want that to get in the way of... your life."

"Okay," Harry said. 

Sirius smiled, a strained, thin smile. He looked very torn. After another second he strode over to Harry and pulled him in to a strong hug. Ruffling his hair, he said, "I'm glad you're happy."

"Thanks." Harry said. "He wants to take me to America. Vermont. To get married." 

Oh jesus. "Er..." Sirius fought very hard to control himself, swallowing hard. "I never thought Snape the romantic type."

Harry laughed. "Good night, Sirius."

"Good night, Harry."

"He wants to get married," Sirius blurted out once he'd closed their bedroom door behind him. 

Remus raised an eyebrow. "That's... Are we sure this is the same Snape?"

"God. I don't want to talk about Snape any longer."

"Okay."

Suddenly Remus grabbed Sirius by the collar and shoved him once more against the wall.

"What the hell--" Sirius's objection was silenced with a fierce kiss. Remus's mouth was insistent against his, and as soon as he opened his mouth Remus's tongue was inside it, licking and stroking intently. 

He pulled back for a moment. "I thought it was hot, when I did it before," Remus said. "But I couldn't exactly fuck you when I was trying to get you to be less of a prick."

"Oh." Sirius's eyes were quite wide. "Am I enough less of a prick now?"

Remus let go of his collar and tangled his hands in Sirius's hair. He pressed his body hard against Sirius and took his mouth once more. Sirius tried to push back, but Remus only pushed harder. 

"No, stay there."

"Oh god."

They kissed, and Remus's mouth strayed to Sirius's neck. He nuzzled and kissed, layering wet kisses over his throat, scraping his teeth over his Adam's apple. Sirius moaned. 

Sirius's hands were clutching at his back, occasionally dipping lower to cup his ass, pulling his shirt tails out of his trousers. He gasped when Sirius's hands found skin and sneaked beneath his waistband. 

He fumbled to get Sirius's clothes off. He was so hard, and he needed to feel bare skin. Soon he'd shoved Sirius's trousers off of his hips and moved his hand to Sirius's cock.

"Oh, Remus," he moaned. 

God, he needed to get rid of his clothes, now. He pulled away from Sirius just long enough to shove his own trousers down, then began thrusting against him. 

"Sirius," he moaned. Oh, he was hard, and Sirius was so hard in his hand. His body tightened at the very thought of Sirius's length, and he clenched his teeth to try to concentrate. 

He stopped abruptly. This was progressing far too quickly. He dropped to his knees and stroked Sirius's thighs with his hands. He stared at his cock for a moment before taking him in his mouth so quickly that Sirius cried out. His hips thrust instinctively, so Remus grasped them and held him fast. 

He feathered his tongue over the head, then took him farther in to his mouth. Sirius's hands were fisted in his hair and he was swearing, and Remus took him down his throat. 

"Fuck," Sirius gasped. 

Remus allowed Sirius a bit of movement and he fucked his mouth shallowly. He gasped again when Remus pulled away. 

"God, I want to fuck you," Remus said. He pressed his face against Sirius's groin, taking in his scent. 

"Remus," Sirius moaned. "Yes."

Remus stood and turned Sirius so that he was facing the wall. He licked his fingers and pushed them in to Sirius. "I can't hold back any longer, Sirius," he whispered roughly in to his ear. He stretched Sirius's muscles slowly, while his other hand gripped Sirius's hip hard enough to bruise. His cock was so hard, sandwiched between their sweaty bodies, and he couldn't help rubbing it against Sirius's backside. His breathing quickened as Sirius began to groan deep in the back of his throat. 

"You're so hot. I want you, I want to fill you completely. Fuck you hard, Sirius."

"Remus!" Sirius's voice was so low it sent thrills through Remus. "Do it."

He withdrew his fingers. He spat several times in his palm and then slicked his cock; he pushed in, slowly, panting with the effort. 

"Fuck, Remus. Harder."

So he did. He thrust up in to him until he was buried to the hilt, and trailed his lips over Sirius's shoulder. He pulled back with agonizing slowness.

"Please." Sirius's voice was so ragged. 

He shoved in again, faster this time, and his strokes hit their desired mark. Sirius writhed against the wall and Remus gripped him tighter, splayed a hand across his chest. He felt Sirius clench around him and he felt dizzy so he sank his teeth in to Sirius's shoulder. The cry that erupted from Sirius's throat nearly undid Remus, and he reached down to fist Sirius's cock.

"Oh, Sirius." He moved faster. "I love you. God. I love you."

Sirius moaned deep in his chest and shuddered, the tremors of his body sending electric shocks through Remus. He spilled his semen over Remus's hand, and all it took was another thrust or two to finish Remus off. 

They slumped against the wall, gasping. Sirius turned his head to kiss Remus, awkwardly. "I love you too. And I'm sorry, about before."

"You're just going to have to be very nice for a very long time."

"Does this constitute being very nice?"

"I'd say so, yes."

"I can do that." 

"Are you sufficiently calm enough to let the Harry thing go?"

"I'm too exhausted to do anything otherwise."


End file.
